Italian Nurse Indicted Of Killing Patients Acquited

Rome : An Italian nurse tried multiple times over the death of patients has been cleared again — but the legal ordeal that saw her spend years in prison may not be over.

Daniela Poggiali, 49, was acquitted late Monday on two murder counts by an appeals court in Bologna, which also ordered her release from prison.

She had been accused of killing Rosa Calderoni, 78, and Massimo Montanari, 94, with injections of potassium chloride while on duty in a hospital in Lugo, northern Italy.

Poggiali became notorious as Italian media published pictures of her posing next to dead patients, smiling or making mocking expressions.

But she has now become the latest example of Italy’s tortuous justice system.

Poggiali was first arrested in 2014 in connection to Calderoni’s death and sentenced to life imprisonment two years later.

She was cleared on appeal and freed in 2017 — but prosecutors appealed, and Italy’s top court twice ordered a retrial.

In both instances — in 2019 and then on Monday — the retrials ended with acquittals.

In another twist, the nurse was re-arrested in late 2020 over Montanari’s death and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment. That conviction was also quashed by Monday’s ruling.

“I am very happy, this was the only possible outcome… I’ll be back with my family,” the nurse was quoted as saying by Italian media.